Smoke's prolly busier than twins gettin ready to come to my place bear huntin, and since I sold him the Vixen, have a Phoenix and Emax, shot the Ecet some, can answer some of your questions. The Vix is a breeze to cock w/ rope cocker, the Phoenix just a tad harder, but both are alot easier than Ecet/Emax. There's a trick to rope cockers, shorten the rope enough you have to pull the bow string back 3-6" [your choice] to get the second hook on. As for uncocking w/ rope cocker, took me 6 mo's. to work up the nerve to try it on my Emax. You just will not believe how easy it is til you try it, there is no where near the effort involved like there is to cock them. Just make sure all is on right prior to pulling the trigger while pulling upsome on handle. The rope sliding in the groove on back of stock acts like a brake. when I uncock mine, I just leave the rope cocker on the bow, but remember to take it off to check brace height if it's sat awhile.